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I Want to Live!

I Want to Live!

Drama · Crime · 1958

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

Movie details

I Want to Live!

“The murder trial that shook the world!”

1958 Drama · Crime 2h 0m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over I Want to Live!?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

No One Would Tell

No One Would Tell

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Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can't believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he becomes possessive and jealous-telling her who she can speak to and what she can wear. Threats escalate into violence when Bobby thinks Stacy has stepped out of line. Soon she is walking on egg shells and living in fear. Having seen the tell-tale bruises, Stacy's best friend convinces her to break things off with Bobby-but in a moment of weakness, Stacy goes to meet him. It will be the last time she is seen alive.

Straight Time

Straight Time

Crime · 1978

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

The Letter

The Letter

Crime · 1940

After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.

Cry of the City

Cry of the City

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Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?

Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell

Drama · 2019

Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

Just Mercy

Just Mercy

Drama · 2019

The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.

Madame X

Madame X

Drama · 1966

Holly Parker, the wife of a wealthy diplomat, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who has been romantically pursuing her. She is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity in order to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men. Eventually returning to the city of her downfall, she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, Holly is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who has become a public defender. In the hope of protecting her family, she refuses to reveal her real name and is known to the court as "Madame X".

Let Him Have It

Let Him Have It

Drama · 1991

In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.

Footsteps in the Fog

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A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.

She Made Them Do It

She Made Them Do It

TV Movie · 2012

"She Made Them Do It" follows the twisted life of Sarah Pender, a charismatic, intelligent young woman who would become one of the country’s most sought after fugitives.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Wise

Written by

Ed Montgomery · Nelson Gidding · Don Mankiewicz

Susan Hayward

Susan Hayward

Barbara Graham

Simon Oakland

Simon Oakland

Edward S. 'Ed' Montgomery

Virginia Vincent

Virginia Vincent

Peg

Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel

Carl G.G. Palmberg

Wesley Lau

Wesley Lau

Henry L. Graham

Philip Coolidge

Philip Coolidge

Emmett Perkins

Lou Krugman

Lou Krugman

John R. 'Jack' Santo

Court is in session

Put I Want to Live! on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.